Sunday, 20 May 2007

After having struggled a little bit with Jag over the past few weeks, I went to Vyne determined to sort myself out. Vyne was a champ show and I am really really hoping to get a cc with Jag this year. But not if I handle like I had been.

The day started well with Jag going clear in the jumping round of the champ class. He finished 7th in that part. Then I ran off to run Twix in all three of her classes. Twix went clear in the grade 3 agility and into the lead! We had minor issues in the other classes but only baby stuff.

I didn't have time to worry about where Twix was in her class. As I now had all Jag's runs to do! We went clear in grade 7 jumping and finished 13th then went on to do 6/7 agility and went clear. Although we didn't get placed as I didn't want to push Jag too hard in the conditions and I did have half an eye on pushing int he champ class.

Jag then went clear in the champ agility and finished 3rd which meant we had qualified for the final round. Meanwhile I learnt that Twix had won her Grade 3 agility.. Yipee.

The course for the champ final was lovely. Jag and I had qualified in top position so ran last just after Toni and Kite. Toni put in a lovely round and then Jag and I had to follow that. Well Jag ran his little socks off for me. Every turn was excellent... except for the last one! We ended up winning the reserve challenge certificate. Toni won the CC but as she is my best mate, it couldn't have gone to a nicer person. Jag and I were .22 behind Toni and Kite. We'll get the big one one day!

Well as this blog is mainly about my agility dogs, cos I don't seem to do anything else interesting, I thought I would bring it up to date with this years shows.

Biggest show so far has to be Crufts! I had an amazing time. Jag and I qualified for the senior singles and for the team finals. I had hoped we could carry on from our success at Olympia and find form at the world famous Crufts. Jag did not disappoint at all. On Friday morning we came 4th in the semi for the singles. This put us through to the afternoon final. Jag ran so well. I don't think the floor there is he easiest for a big dog to cope on but he did me proud and finished in 3rd place in the final. We were back up to Crufts the next day for the team finals. Our team was Jag and I, Toni and Kite, David and Billy and Lee and Shy... so not what you would call a bad team. We finished 2nd in the hotly contested morning semi. In the afternoon it all fell apart a bit! Jag and I got 10 faults (our first faults at Crufts this year!) and Toni and Kite had 10 faults, whilst the guys both went clear. We finished 3rd in the final. Was till very proud though.

I have had a mixed start to the year. Twix started her show career at Scunthope and did me proud with three clears out of four runs! Wow! Jag got to the Champ final at Scunny but then I messed up. Enough said!

Twix has managed plenty of clear rounds at other shows picking up lots of nice places. We came close to winning out of grade three at Lewes only to be pipped at the last minute! Jag and I have had a bit of a "sticky" patch. I think mainly because I have started running Twix I have kind of lost my handling with him. Still it all came back to me at Vyne!

Well my hobby or is that obession, is with dog agility. I currently have two dogs. Jag my 5 1/2 year old working sheepdog and Twix my 20 month border collie. I started agility back in 1992 with my crossbreed Spud. I then had my first border collie, Mika. Sadly both Spud and Mika are no longer with me. I lost Spud in September 2006 and Mika in September 2005, exactly a year to the day apart. Needless to say I am not looking forward to that day this year!

Picture below shows Spud, Mika and Jag. Mika laying at the front.

Jag's dad is from the well known Touchango agility dogs and his Mum was farm collie. Jag has been my absolute superstar. He has taken me to places I never thought I could get to in agility. He is an advanced agility dog (grade 7). He has been to Crufts twice and Olympia three times. At Olympia last year Jag finished a very good 3rd and at Crufts this year we finished 3rd in the senior singles and 3rd in the team event.

Twix is a Bryning border collie bred by Nat Holtappel. She is 20 months old and is only just starting out in her agility career. Her first show was at the end of March. Twix has already made me very proud. She is currently a grade 4 dog, though is finishing off her grade 3 runs.

About Me

I am 33 years old and live in Bedfordshire with my boyfriend Dave. I have two dogs. A WSD called Jag and a BC called Twix. Dave also has two dogs, a WSD called Tye and German Spitz called Bryn. We spend most of our spare time training for agility or competing!!! When I get any other spare time, which is rare, I like to go to the gym or just do NOTHING!!!!!